Gas turbines typically include a compressor section, a combustion section, and a turbine section. The compressor section pressurizes air flowing into the turbine. The pressurized air discharged from the compressor section flows into the combustion section, which is generally characterized by a plurality of combustors disposed around an annular array about the axis of the engine. Each of the plurality of combustors includes a combustion liner, which defines the combustion chamber of the combustor. As such, air entering each combustor is mixed with fuel and combusted within the combustion liner. Hot gases of combustion flow from the combustion liner through a transition piece to the turbine section of the gas turbine to drive the turbine and generate power.
Combustion liners are routinely removed during combustor maintenance activities. However, to re-install a combustion liner within a combustor, a significant amount of force is often required to overcome the friction at the interface between the combustion liner and the transition piece. For example, a hula seal is typically disposed at this interface that must be compressed in order to permit the combustion liner to slide into the transition piece. This often requires several hundred pounds of axial installation force. In the past, such installation force has been applied with a manually operated hammer. However, manually hammering the combustion liner into place can damage combustor components and can result in injury to the maintenance workers. Moreover, the hammering force applied to the combustion liner often varies significantly, which may result in the combustion liner being improperly aligned in the combustion casing and/or not fully seated against the combustion liner stops.
Accordingly, an installation tool which allows for the safe and relatively simple installation of a combustion liner within a combustor would be welcomed in the technology.